The Eicher Arts Center, Ephrata Borough, will be hosting an admission-free Ag and Art Day on May 15, a  Saturday. The event will focus on “native” trees, shrubs and other plants - and on artists who depict the outdoors in their creations.

Native plants are those that grow without human intervention in a particular habitat. The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society considers plants that were growing on the eastern seaboard of what is now the United States when Europeans first arrived as “Native Plants,” and says they are more likely than non-native plants to thrive in local climate and soil conditions and contribute to a healthy ecosystem, providing support for animals such as birds and butterflies.

The May 15 event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Arts Center at 409 Cocalico St. in Ephrata Borough’s Grater Park as well as on the building’s covered deck and on the grounds outside, where vendors specializing in native plants will be offering those plants  for sale. The public is encouraged to dress for the weather, bring folding chairs to set up outdoors and bring and wear protective masks.

Participating artists displaying their work inside the historic Eicher building will include Gladys Zeiset, Karen Sensenig, Crystal Dull and Gary Greene, an Arts Center board member who has created many watercolor paintings and other artworks “when out in nature...in the woods, on a hillside, by a pond.”

Experts making presentations on the deck during the event will include Lisa Sanchez, Lancaster County naturalist; Linda Ferich of Lancaster Conservancy and Rhoda Martin, Herbal Springs Farmstead. (Sanchez was the presenter at an Eicher program on owls on April 18.) A schedule of the May 15 deck presentations is being worked out for posting on the Arts Center’s Facebook page.

Setting up outdoors on the grounds will be representatives of such vendors as Keystone Wildflowers, Earthbound Artisan,  Go Native Tree Farm, Meadowsweet Native Plant Farm and Herbal Springs Farmstead.

Donations to the non-profit Eicher Arts Center will be accepted.